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The Deceptions of Asia

The funny thing about Asia is how you are duped into believing it is this mysteriously holy and spiritual place where monks glide across the earth and roofs slope elegantly toward the sky. You imagine that visiting a temple would be similar to approaching the gates of heaven on a magic carpet. These fantasies are quickly diverted when you realize that food offerings at said holy temple are more likely to be Kit Kat bars, plastic bottles of Fanta and tea. We once dubbed a temple in Taiwan as Bruce Lee temple, because they were literally playing Bruce Lee movies on a big screen in the temple courtyard. Another temple in Hsinchu Taiwan doubled as or favorite outdoor drinking venue after work. It was also not uncommon to see festivals and more of a carnival atmosphere enveloping temple grounds in Taiwan, rather than serenity. Temples are still awesome, but for different reasons than we dreamed of.